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Silphium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the plant that was used in classical antiquity. For the modern genus of plants, seeSilphium(genus).
Not to be confused withSilpium.
Ancient silver coin from Cyrene depicting a stalk of silphium

Silphium(also known aslaserwortorlaser;Ancient Greek:σίλφιον,sílphion) is an unidentified plant that was used inclassical antiquityas a seasoning, perfume,aphrodisiac,and medicine.[1][2]

It was also used as acontraceptiveby ancientGreeksandRomans.[3]It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city ofCyrene,and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of theircoinsbore a picture of the plant. The valuable product was the plant'sresin,called in Latinlaserpicium,lasarpiciumorlaser(the wordsLaserpitiumandLaserwere used by botanists to namegeneraof aromatic plants, but the silphium plant is not believed to belong to these genera).

Silphium was an importantspeciesinclassical antiquity,as evidenced by theEgyptiansandKnossosMinoansdeveloping a specificglyphto represent the silphium plant.[4][5]It was used widely by most ancientMediterraneancultures; the Romans, who mentioned the plant in poems or songs, considered it "worth its weight indenarii"(silver coins), or even gold.[2]Legend said that it was a gift from the godApollo.

The exact identity of silphium is unclear. It was claimed to have become extinct in Roman times.[6]It is commonly believed to be a relative ofgiant fennelin thegenusFerula.[1][7][8]The extant plantThapsia gummifera[9]has been suggested as another possibility. Another theory is that it was simply a high quality variety ofasafoetida,a common spice in the Roman Empire. The two spices were considered the same by many Romans including the geographerStrabo.[10]

Identity and extinction

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A coin ofMagas of Cyrenec. 300–282/75 BC.Reverse: silphium and small crab symbols.

The identity of silphium is highly debated. Without a surviving sample, no genetic analysis can be made. It is generally considered to belong to the genusFerula,as an extinct or living species. The currently extant plantsThapsia gummifera,[9]Ferula tingitana,Ferula narthex,Ferula drudeana,andThapsia garganicahave been suggested as possible identities.[1][7][8][11][12]Ferula drudeana,an endemic species found in Turkey, is a candidate for silphium based on similarity of appearance in descriptions and production of a spice-like gum-resin with supposedly similar properties to silphium.[13][8]However,F. drudeanabelongs to a lineage from the southern Caspian Sea region, with no known connection to Eastern Libya.[14]

Theophrastusmentioned silphium as having thick roots covered in black bark, about 48 centimeters long, or onecubit,with a hollow stalk, similar tofennel,and golden leaves, like celery.[2]

Weighing and loading of silphium at Cyrene

The disappearance of silphium is considered the first extinction of a plant or animal species in recorded history.[15]The cause of silphium's supposed extinction is not entirely known but numerous factors are suggested. Silphium had a remarkably narrow native range, about 125 by 35 miles (201 by 56 km), in the southern steppe ofCyrenaica(present-day easternLibya).[16]Overgrazingcombined withoverharvestinghave long been cited as the primary factors that led to its extinction.[6]However, recent research has challenged this notion, arguing instead thatdesertificationin ancient Cyrenaica was the primary driver of silphium's decline.[17]

Another theory is that whenRomanprovincial governors took over power from Greek colonists, they over-farmed silphium and rendered the soil unable to yield the type that was said to be of such medicinal value.Theophrastuswrote inEnquiry into Plantsthat the type ofFerulaspecifically referred to as "silphium" was odd in that it could not becultivated.[18]He reports inconsistencies in the information he received about this, however.[19]This could suggest the plant is similarly sensitive to soil chemistry ashuckleberrieswhich, when grown from seed, are devoid of fruit.[2]

Similar to the soil theory, another theory holds that the plant was ahybrid,which often results in very desired traits in thefirst generation,butsecond-generationcan yield very unpredictable outcomes. This could have resulted in plants without fruits, when planted from seeds, instead of asexually reproducing through their roots.[2]

Plinyreported that the last known stalk of silphium found in Cyrenaica was given to EmperorNero"as a curiosity".[6]

Ancient medicine

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Many medical uses were ascribed to the plant.[20]It was said that it could be used to treat cough, sore throat,fever,indigestion, aches and pains,warts,and all kinds of maladies. Hippocrateswrote:[21]

When the gut protrudes and will not remain in its place, scrape the finest and most compact silphium into small pieces and apply as acataplasm.

The plant may also have functioned as acontraceptiveandabortifacient.[7][22]Many species in theparsley familyhaveestrogenicproperties, and some, such aswild carrot,are known to act as abortifacients.[22]

Culinary uses

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Silphium was used in Graeco-Roman cooking, notably in recipes presented inApicius.

Long after its claimed extinction, silphium continued to be mentioned in lists of aromatics copied one from another, until it makes perhaps its last appearance in the list of spices that theCarolingiancook should have at hand—Brevis pimentorum que in domo esse debeant( "A short list of condiments that should be in the home" )—by a certain "Vinidarius",whose excerpts ofApicius[a]survive in one 8th-centuryuncialmanuscript. Vinidarius's dates may not be much earlier.[23]

Connection with the heart symbol

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Main article:Heart (symbol)
Drawing ofHeracleum sphondylium,showing its heart-shapedmericarp
Ancient Cyrenean silver coin depicting a silphium seed or fruit

There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditionalheart shape(♥).[24]Silver coins from Cyrene of the 6th–5th centuries BCE bear a similar design, sometimes accompanied by a silphium plant, and is understood to represent its seed or fruit.[25]Some plants in the familyApiaceae,such asHeracleum sphondylium,have heart-shapedindehiscent mericarps(a type of fruit).

Contemporary writings help tie silphium tosexualityand love. Silphium appears inPausanias'Description of Greecein a story of theDioscuristaying at a house belonging to Phormion, aSpartan:

For it so happened that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it.[26]

Silphium aslaserpiciummakes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) ofCatullusto his loverLesbia(though others have suggested that the reference here is instead to silphium's use as a treatment for mental illness, tying it to the "madness of love"[27][28]).

Heraldry

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In theItalian militaryheraldry,Il silfio d'oro reciso di Cirenaica( "Silphium of Cyrenaica, smoothly cut and printed in gold; inblazon:silphiumcoupedorof Cyrenaica") is the symbol granted to units that distinguished themselves in theWestern Desert Campaignin North Africa during World War II.[29]

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Characters inLindsey Davis's 1998 historical crime novelTwo for the Lionstravel from Rome to North Africa in search of Silphium.[30]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^A generic term for a cookery book, as "Webster" is of American dictionaries.

References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^abcTatman, J.L. (October 2000). "Silphium, Silver and Strife: A History of Kyrenaika and Its Coinage".Celator.14(10): 6–24.
  2. ^abcdeZaria Gorvett (2017)."The mystery of the lost Roman herb".BBC.Archivedfrom the original on 2018-05-17.Retrieved2018-08-27.
  3. ^Riddle, John M.; Estes, J. Worth (1992). "Oral Contraceptives in Ancient and Medieval Times".American Scientist.80(3): 226–233.Bibcode:1992AmSci..80..226R.JSTOR29774642.
  4. ^Evans, Arthur (1921).The Palace of Minos: a Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos.Cornell University Library. Macmillan and Co. p. 284.
  5. ^Hogan, C. Michael (2007)."Knossos fieldnotes".Modern Antiquarian.Archivedfrom the original on 11 July 2018.Retrieved13 Feb2009.
  6. ^abcPliny,XIX, Ch.15Archived2022-09-28 at theWayback Machine
  7. ^abcDid the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control?Archived2006-10-27 at theWayback Machine,The Straight Dope,October 13, 2006
  8. ^abcGrescoe, Taras (23 September 2022)."This miracle plant was eaten into extinction 2,000 years ago—or was it?".National Geographic.Archived fromthe originalon 25 September 2022.Retrieved26 September2022.
  9. ^abAmigues, Suzanne (2004). "Le silphium - État de la question" [Silphium - State of the art].Journal des Savants(in French).2(1): 191–226.doi:10.3406/jds.2004.1685.
  10. ^Dalby 2000,p. 18.
  11. ^Andrews, Alfred C. (1941). "The Silphium of the Ancients: A Lesson in Crop Control".Isis.33(2): 232–236.doi:10.1086/358541.JSTOR330743.S2CID144108503.
  12. ^Parejko, K (2003). "Pliny the Elder's Silphium: First Recorded Species Extinction".Conservation Biology.17(3): 925–927.doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02067.x.S2CID84007922.
  13. ^Miski, Mahmut (2021-01-06)."Next Chapter in the Legend of Silphion: Preliminary Morphological, Chemical, Biological and Pharmacological Evaluations, Initial Conservation Studies, and Reassessment of the Regional Extinction Event".Plants.10(1): 102.doi:10.3390/plants10010102.ISSN2223-7747.PMC7825337.PMID33418989.
  14. ^Piwczyński, Marcin; Wyborska, Dominika; Gołębiewska, Joanna; Puchałka, Radosław (2018)."Phylogenetic positions of seven poorly known species ofFerula(Apiaceae) with remarks on the phylogenetic utility of the plastidTRNH-psbA, TRNS-TRNG,andatpB-RBCLintergenic spacers ".Systematics and Biodiversity.16(5): 428–440.doi:10.1080/14772000.2018.1442374.S2CID90391176.
  15. ^Grescoe, Taras (15 September 2023)."Eat the past to preserve the future".The Globe and Mail.Retrieved6 March2024.
  16. ^"Off this tract is the island of Platea, which the Cyrenaeans colonized. Here too, upon the mainland, are Port Menelaus, and Aziris, where the Cyrenaeans once lived. The Silphium begins to grow in this region, extending from the island of Platea on the one side to themouth of the Syrtison the other. "(Herodotus, iv.168–198on-line textArchived2013-04-09 at theWayback Machine)
  17. ^Pollaro, Paul; Robertson, Paul (2022)."Reassessing the Role of Anthropogenic Climate Change in the Extinction of Silphium".Frontiers in Conservation Science.2.doi:10.3389/fcosc.2021.785962.ISSN2673-611X.
  18. ^Theophrastus, III.2.1, VI.3.3
  19. ^Theophrastus, VI.3.5
  20. ^Pliny,XXII, Ch. 49Archived2007-12-28 at theWayback Machine
  21. ^Hippocrates,Translated by Francis Adams."On Fistulae, Section 9".Archivedfrom the original on 2012-06-03.Retrieved2012-03-25.
  22. ^abRiddle, John M. (1992).Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance.Harvard University Press. p. 58.ISBN978-0-674-16876-3.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-09-03.Retrieved2021-09-03.
  23. ^Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr.The History of Food,revised ed. 2009, p. 434.
  24. ^Favorito, E. N.; Baty, K. (February 1995). "The Silphium Connection".Celator.9(2): 6–8.
  25. ^Buttrey, T. V.(1992)."The Coins and the Cult".Expedition.34(1–2): 59–66.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-09-03.Retrieved2021-09-03.
  26. ^Pausanias,3.16.3Archived2021-02-25 at theWayback Machine
  27. ^Moorhouse, A. C. (1963). "Two Adjectives in Catullus, 7".The American Journal of Philology.84(4): 417–418.doi:10.2307/293237.JSTOR293237.
  28. ^Bertman, Stephen (December 1978). "Oral Imagery In Catullus 7".The Classical Quarterly.28(2): 477–478.doi:10.1017/S0009838800035060.S2CID170172017.
  29. ^"Si distinsero i soldati del 28° Reggimento Fanteria" Pavia "il cui scudo reca nel terzo quarto una pianta di silfio d'oro reciso e sormontata da una stella d'argento". "(Gaetano Arena,Inter eximia naturae dona: il silfio cirenaico fra ellenismo e tarda antichità,2008:13
  30. ^"Two for the Lions".Kirkus Reviews.1999.Retrieved19 March2024.exploring the hills and towns along the African coast... searching for the herb silphium, a gold mine if found

Bibliography

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Further reading

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